Coral Castle/fruit/food part 1 of 2

David wanted to see this Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida. 

 Here is David at the entrance to Edward Leedshalnin's living quarters located on the top floor of the tiny cube of a building.  His workshop was located on the bottom floor. 

 

This is were he lived

Ed built this gated park all by himself.  He was 5 ft tall and weighed 100 lbs. He worked alone and it took him 20 years to build.  Using only hand tools  he cut, carved, and moved huge pieces of coral.  This rock is found throughout Florida sometimes just inches below the soil surface.

How did he do it?

To this day, no one knows how Ed created the Coral Castle. Built under the cover of night and in secret, at a time when there were no modern construction conveniences, Ed would only say that he knew "the secret of the pyramids." When he died, his secrets died with him, and to this day scientists and thinkers still debate Ed's methods.

cook stove

work tools he made from scraps and car parts

Here is the gang standing in front of a traveling palm tree.  Isn't it the neatest thing you ever saw.  We were all very impressed with this little Coral Castle (Rock Gate Park).

This is Ed's Bar-B-Que he built in the 1930's  The fire was built in the hole in the bottom. The cooking pot is the rear end housing of an old Ford.  It hangs on pulleys riding on a rail.  The food is placed in the container, which seals itself. 

Children's play yard Grotto of the Three Bears.  Chairs and beds for the three bears.

Feast of Love Table.  It is perfectly heart shaped with a heart in the center.  He could not provide fresh flowers daily so he planted this Ixora plant.  It is Ed's original plant.  It has been in place 40-50 years.  The table weighs 5,000 pounds.  They have at least one wedding there on Valentines Days and this table is in Ripley's Believe It Or Not.  

Go to part 2 


 

Coral Castle Part 2 of 2

He dug this well himself and used the cool waters in it to store food and even cool himself.

bath tub next to the well, smart.  Just big enough for him.  He would fill it in the morning and it would be just right for a late afternoon bath.  Since the coral is porous and would not hold water he lined it with cement. 

beds

plants

Laura reading

lizard sunning

 

David in the Throne Room on the throne which weighs 5,000 pounds

Ed found this rock with a silver palm growing out of it.  It shaded the entire area.  In 1960 hurricane Donna came and blow it away so this is the replacement.

Polaris Telescope  Ed carved this telescope in two pieces.  The outer part is located 20 ft. outside of the wall of the castle.  It is 25 ft. tall and weighs about 40,000 pounds.  

The second part of the telescope was located on the inner wall.  At night when both sets of cross hairs are aligned, the North Star will be seen.

 

Florida table.  Ed carved this table the exact shape and direct proportion to the size of Florida.  He even put Lake Okeechobee, Florida's largest lake right where is should be.

Laura reading in the reading chair.  She says it is really comfy.  There are different chair locations so he would have the best light to read by no matter where the sun was.

Using his telescope to study the sun's movement he was able to construct this sun dial.  He only had the times for 9 to 4 because he was only interested in the hours a man would work.  The numbered loops are the hour loops and the unnumbered loops are the half hour loops. 

This is the metal piece that is located on a block above and to one side of the loops and casts a shadow on the loops.  We could not test the clock because it was over cast.

rocking chair 



The Sun Couch is approximately 8 ft. in diameter.  Ed built the couch on a Ford brake drum so that he could turn it to any position he desired and sun bathe. 

 


 

Key West

Sorry there were no pix yesterday, but we had a great day.

When out to the Everglades we stopped at a very popular fruit and veggie stand and Laura made a purchase.  She came home with an Ugli Fruit.  I did not get a pic of it before she ripped it apart.  It is a cross with Jamaican tangelo, hybridized grapefruit, orange tangerine.  Discovered growing wild in Jamaica.  Flesh is very juice and sweet like the tangerine. 
We will be sampling the other fruits and veggies later.

 
She also prepare a great meal.  Laura brined some pork chops and Rog barbequed them to perfected.  We also had green beans, yellow squash, water things (Cucumber, onion in vinegar and water).  David called them water things when he was little and it has just stuck for us.  For your salad we had slide tomato, fresh basal, and balsamic vinegar.  

David in the Altantic Ocean while we were traveling to Key West.

Laura and David searching the waters for sea life.

This is one of the many bridges we went over to travel the Florida Keys.  This is the 7 mile bridge.

 

David took this pic of a snail in the waters moving slowly along.

Jelly fish

Chickens are all over the place running free.  This is in one of the parking lots. 

When born the deer weighs from 2 to 4 lbs. 



This deer can be recognized by its characteristic size, smaller than all other white-tailed deer. Adult males (known as bucks) usually weigh 55–75 lb and stand about 30 in tall at the shoulder. Adult females (does) usually weigh between 44 and 64 lb and have an average height of 26 in at the shoulders. The deer is a reddish-brown to grey-brown in color.  Antlers are grown by males and shed between February and March and regrown by June. When the antlers are growing, they have a white velvet coating. The species otherwise generally resembles other white-tailed deer in appearance.
Key deer easily swim between islands.
Living close to humans, the Key deer has little of the natural fear of man shown by most of their larger mainland cousins. The deer are often found in residents' yards and along roadsides where tasty plants and flowers grow. This often results in car-to-deer collisions, as the deer are more active (and harder to avoid) at night.

 The Key deer is believed to be a subspecies of white-tailed deer which migrated to the Florida Keys from the mainland over a land bridge during the Wisconsin glaciation. The earliest known written reference to Key deer comes from the writings of a Spanish sailor shipwrecked in the Florida Keys and captured by Native Americans
in the 19550's.

We stopped off at a bar and tasted some rum.  These little glasses were shared by David and me. 

David also had conch for the first time. 

 

pelican

Christmas tree made with floats.

Blimp on the way home.